Languages of Solentia
The languages of Solentia have been rich and varied, as has the political and cultural history. This account will follow the traditional units of Solentian history and important linguistic events will be shown. Proto-Agricultural Languages A number of pastoral semi-nomadic societies appeared throughout Western Solentia from 6,000-3500 BCE. The origin of these languages is unknown, but they are thought to be related from the distant past to the tongue of the Kal’Nai civilization. There are two primary languages in this period: #Paleo-Oramian #Pre-Ulmaic Both are similar in the use of a mysterious alphabet and set of glyphs that is still being deciphered. The only way that this language has been translated is through Archaic-era interpretation of the writing that only by chance survived the epochs that elapsed until the modern era. Writing was often found on cave walls or on flint tablets. Historically, Pre-Ulmaic was doomed to die out by the end of the Proto-Agricultural peiod. Paleo-Oramian, however, would remain spoken by a small minority of racial Oramians who speak a descendent of that language even today. Syntax Paleo-Oramian This language consists of a bizarre and unique grammatical system rarely seen in any other societies. First, there seem to be no verbs, all verbal usages being produced instead by action-implying nouns activated by causal suffixes attached to the subject of the clause. The object is non-existent as well, instead being an indirect recipient of the action-implying noun. For instance: “the shepherd tends the flock” would be in Paleo-Oramian grammar “the shepherd-causes care for the flock.” The causal suffix identifies the subject alone while the verb-implying noun is identified because it has no prefixes, suffixes, and carries a verbal idea. Adjectives and nouns are not distinguished, but context is used instead. The language is also an ergative-absolutive fusion language. Clauses and phrases of all kinds are difficult to distinguish. There seem to be no parallels to relative clause constructions. Result, purpose, etc. are indicated by certain adverbial markers that make use of a degenerate qualitative prefix that must have been forgotten centuries before, since many varied forms occur. Pre-Ulmaic Similar in many ways to Paleo-Oramian, Pre-Ulmaic utilizes similarly strange syntax, although even less is known about this language. There seem to be a great number of particles and purely grammatical morphemes in use. For instance, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs are indicated using varying participles whose use is varied and open to interpretations. The language, like Paleo-Oramian, is an ergative-absolutive fusion language. Morphology Paleo-Oramian There are nearly 15 identified case endings for P-O nouns, and countless unknown or unique verbal suffixes, endings, and internal insertions. Some examples: Noun Class 1: *Absolutive- Ku-le-qw (knowledge subject of intrans. verbal noun/object of trans) *Erative- me-Ku-le (knowledge agent of a trans. verbal noun) *Genitive- Ku-le-gwu (of knowledge) *Possessive Proper- Ku-le-gu(belonging to knowledge) *Ablative/Dative- Ku-lemn(for/to/preposition knowledge) *Instrumental- Ku-le-mon (by knowledge) *Vocative- Ku-lek (knowledge!) *Locative- Ku-le-n’m(in knowledge) *Causative Suffix- Ku-le-qwrr (knowledge-causes) We will follow this example throughout the history of Solentian language in order to follow its grammatical evolution. Pre-Ulmaic Pre-Ulmaic is mostly not deciphered in its morphology, and a number of the case endings are not known from word to word, due to the general lack of evidence. Therefore, several words must be used to demonstrate the morphological changes: Noun Class 3: *Absolutive- Pu-rhew-tw (village subject of intrans. verb/object of trans) *Ergative- Khuy-rre (knowledge agent of a trans. verb) *Objective/Subjective Genitive- Khuy-kha-rre (for knowledge in “the love of god” *Partitive Genitive- Pu-rhew-tö- (of a village in “many of them”) *Possessive Genititve- adw-Khuy-rr-et (belonging to knowledge) *Instrumental/Ablative- Khuy-rre-iw (by/for/to knowledge) *Vocative- na-Khuy Example Text Paleo-Oramian From inscription II-A.1 "Kol-re-gu no-biw-lek-qwrr ... ku-le-qw yu-wur-al mi-sa-lw ... m ... uruc-ka ... phe-leh" “Horses-gen. + Men-voc.-causative … knowledge-abs. + great-pasture-gen.-suffix + I-suffix-dative + interjection + without” "Horse people of Uruc-... known to me, not of wandering pasture but... without..." From inscription VI-D.4-5 Transliteration: "Mar-if-kol-h phe-le-...-mi-ka ... mur-wur-al...m siw Als-h-re-no-...sa-mi-ka qwil ... umn" Translation: "Gods of Ple...mka spare herds of ... snowy winds ... grass in ripeness" Pre-Ulmaic brrh-u Khwö-rhe-tw mhw-e-iw il wrh … pu-rhew-tö murw il wrut wrh kah “tone + Men-abs. + Meyus-gen + ? + mood particle … village-gen. + particle + ? + one(?) + mood particle + tone” “Listen, might the men of Meyus … might at least one of the villages?” Early Agricultural Period From 3500 to 1500 BCE, Solentia was occupied by two agricultural peoples whose languages were completely divergent from anything in the past. The agricultural revolution was also racial and cultural, with the new masters speaking a foreign tongue. From the beginning, there were two distinct groups: the Maenemoi and the Urghu. Both languages descended from one distant root, but they had grown phonetically and morphologically apart. The cultures had grown apart as well, although for most of the Early Agricultural Period, the two were politically alike. Maenemoi would go on to evolve into Kalopian, which is much like Latin is for the Romance languages. Modern peoples in Solentia essentially speak a contemporary form of Kalopian, and by extention, Maenemoi. Phonetics The two languages have extremely similar pronunciation systems and the writing to represent it is nearly the same. There were surely historical differences, but they are difficult to reconstruct and unnecessary for the scope of this document. Urghu and Maenemoi have the following stop system: Stops Dental 1. Silent: Τ 2. Voiced: Δ 3. Aspirated: Θ Palatal 1. Κ 2. Γ 3. Χ Bi-Labial 1. Π 2. Β 3. Φ Sonorant Nasal 1. Bi-labial: Μ 2. Alveolar: Ν Liquid 1. Rhotic: Ρ 2. Alveolar: Λ Sibilant 1. Alveolar: Σ 2. Bilabial stop+alveolar sibilant combination: Ψ And the vowel system, although not written, has been implied through deduction from modern Urghu and Maenemoi descendants and through contemporaneous texts in full-vowel alphabets. 1. Open, back: A 2. Close-mid, front: E 3. Close, front/near close, near front: I 4. Close, mid-back, rounded: Ω 5. Close, back: Υ There are several dipthongs: 1. AI: "kite" 2. EI: "late" 3. OI: "boy" Writing Both Maenemoi and Urghu are written in what is now known as Greek Type. They, however, used a consonantal system which lacked almost all vowels. Just as in the phonetics system, there was certainly regional variation in the writing system, but it is most convenient to use a model consonantal alphabet. The system, known as Kaire, is as follows: In effect, words were written only with consonants and the vowels were entirely implied, the only exceptions being omega and the diphthong omega-iota (pronounced as in “poke” and “boy,” respectively). Thus, “ΒΦΜ” translates to “bupham,” and “ΡΓΤΥΩΝ” to “urtyon” .Note that upsilon acts mostly as a consonant, only rarely as a vowel, and that this system lacks the letter "xi" (ξ/Ξ) and "zeta" (ζ/Ζ) which are found in the normal Greek Type. Syntax Urghu Urghu is an inflected language similar in many ways to the archaic Italic languages such as Old Latin and Oscan. It also has certain grammatical similarities to Homeric Greek. The noun-verb relationship is accusative; nouns have eight declensions and verbs have two conjugations. There are four verbal moods: indicative, subjunctive, optative, and imperative, active and passive voices, several aspects, and only a handful of times. Time and aspect are independently combined to create tense. There are the singular, dual, plural, and transplural numbers. The last is best translated as “very many nouns.” Neither adjectives nor adverbs are declinable and word order is rigidly SOV. Maenomoi Maenomoi is from a distant ancestor of Urghu, and it therefore contains many syntactical parallels, but it is far from mutually intelligible with its cousin. It is considered to be a generally more elegant language, filled with concise, but expressive grammatical features that contrast with the clunky, often repetitive structure of Urghu. There noun-verb relationship is also accusative. There are only five cases and three declensions. Many of the archaic usages in Urghu are rolled up into the constricted Maenemoi case system. However, it has a more complex voice system, with active, passive, medio-passive, and trans-substantial voices. The last is best translated as “the action of verb exists for agent.” The verbal moods are rather simplified, with only an indicative and optative covering all of the functions of the four Urghu moods. This would later change, with Kalopian adopting the subjunctive and imperative moods as well. The word order is SOV, but is rarely followed strictly. Morphology Urghu The following are some morphological tables of selected Urghu verbs and nouns: "*"=hypothesized Some of the morphological patterns are marked, but nonetheless, Urghu has an extremely irregular noun declension system; "magur" is only from the second of eight noun declensions, each one varying to a great degree, although general patterns can be seen. "Magur" is one of the most completely known nouns: most others are missing far more pieces of the pattern. The verb system is obviously far simpler than the noun declensions, but one must remember that there is another conugation, nine time-aspect combinations, four moods, and two voices. Maenomoi The following are verb and noun paradigms of Maenomoi: The simplified Maenemoi noun declensions have far fewer variations than Urghu and they are far more regular. In addition, there is a fairly large corpus of Maenemoi text, mostly religious and administrative. Thus, many nouns are completely declinable. Text Examples and Corpus Urghu The main body of Urghu text is found in Nukeya. Generally, the longest inscriptions are found on copper tablets which were used as religious or historical documents. Smaller inscriptions are found in the stone blocks of tombs, and occasionally a few pottery shards will be found that have some broken works or short sentences. In all cases, the inscriptions are located in burial sites alongside dead Lords (or "ΝΚΣ"="ανακς") and Kings. The longest inscriptions are listen below: # The Nukeyan Plates: 789 words-- religious inscription detailing the rites of the cult of the God "ΚΡΤΦ" (Kurphu). # The Phalatran Plates: 501 words-- religious texts explaining the ceremonies of the prophetic bird-watching priests. # The Solarian Table: 455 words-- a biography of Lord "ΩΜΤΝ" (Ometun) from southern Nukeya. # The Solarian Tiles: 412 words-- a mix of mythological fables and history of Lord Ometun's family The following are excerpts from the first and third sources: The Nukeyan Plates # Plain text: ΦΡΘΜ ΛΒΜΡΨ-Ν ΠΛ ΦΡΘΝΩ ΠΛ ΚΡΤ ΜΡ-ΤΩΛΝ ΚΠΤ ΜΔΣΡΣ-Τ Ν ΔΩΛΜΓ ΓΡΤΥΩΝ Δ ΠΡΤ. ΠΤ ΨΥΡΤ ΦΩΡΤ-T ΠΛ Ν ΓΔΣΛΠ. # Literal Transliteration: PHRTHM LBMRPS PL PHRTHNO PL KRT MROITOLN KPT MDSRSOITE N DOLMG GRTYON D PRT. PT PSYRT PHORTOIT PL N GDSLP. # Transliteration with vowels added: Phurthom lobmirps plai phurthuno plai kurtai mroitolun kurtai medsursoite nai dolmagi gratyon di purut. Pait psyrut phorotoite plai ni goduslep. # Grammatical Translation: Phurthom High Priest of Kurphu (nominative singular) + lobmirps cautiously (adverb) + plai both (conjunction) + phurthuno garland (instrumental plural) + plai and (conjugation) + kurtai oil (instrumental transplural) + mroitolun alter (accusative singular) + medsursoite decorate (3rd person singular present simple subjunctive active) + nai and (conjunction) + dolmagi pray (3rd person singular future simple indicative active) + gratyon deity (singular dative) + di great (adjective) + purut our (personal adjective). + Pait now (adverb) + psyrut priest (nominative plural) + phorotoite call (3rd person plural present continuous subjunctive active) + plai and (conjunction) + ni toward (preposition) + goduslep great-ones (allative plural). # Final Translation: Let the High Priest of Kurphu cautiously decorate the alter with both garlands and very many oils and pray to our great deity. And now let the priests call toward the great ones. The Solarian Table # Plain Text: ΠΛΣ ΜΛΚΤΤ ΡΜΤΡ-ΣΤ ΧΡΡΝ Ν ΓΡΤ ΠΛ ΚΚΛΣΤΝ. ΜΡΜ ΠΤ ΚΤΡΝ Λ-ΠΤΜ ΚΡΤΣ ΤΡΣΚΝ ΠΛΜΤΣ. # Literal Transliteration: PLS MLKTT RMTRIOST KHRRN NI GRT PL KKLSTN. MRM PT KTRN LΟΙPTM KRTS TRSKN PLMTS. # Transliteration with vowels added: Palos Malktat irmatriostou kharirion ni gurot plai Kakliston. Mairem plait katreion loiptom aikrotos tiriskein palamaitos. # Grammatical Translation: Palos This {nominative singular masculine demonstrative noun) + Malktat Malktatus (genative singular proper noun) + irmatriostou set off (3rd person singular past simple indicative active) + kharirion bravely (adverb) + ni toward (preposition) + gurot mountain (allative plural) + plai + Kakliston Kakliston (allative singular proper noun). + Mairem yet (conjunction) + plait now (adverb) + katreion men (nominative plural) + loiptom west (genitive plural) + aikrotos hatefully (adverb) + tiriskein leader (ablative singular) + palamaitos look (3rd person plural past simple indicative active). # Final Translation: This man of Maltatus set off bravely toward the mountains of Kakliston. Yet now men of the west looked hatefully at the leader. Urghu Tomb Inscriptions *''From Inscription K-203'' Plain Text: "ΒΛ-ΜΤ ΑΚΔΥΛΣ ΜΡΚΡ ΡΤΣ Β...Λ ΤΡΤ ΣΛ ΠΡΤΜΝ ΡΣ...ΣΛ ΡΚΤ" Literal Transliteration: "BL-MT AKDLS MRKR RTS B...L TRT SL PRTMN RS...SL RKT" Transliteration (with vowels added-in): "BAL-MAT AKDULAS MURKIR URTOS BA...LU TURAT SIL PROTUMNA ERUS ... SIL ARKAT" Translation: "Bamat the higher raise to fortune(?) the battle-shinning Urtus whether Protumna ... or calls with grace" *''From Inscription K-406-8'' Plain text: "ΦΡΤΓ- ΝΣ ΝΦΣ -λ ΦΡΣ ΥΡ -Λ Ω ΝΦ ΤΡ-Κ Ω ΚΛΠΡ...Τ...Ρ...ΦΣΦ ΜΡΚΛ" Literal Transliteration: "FRTGOI NS NFS OIL VRS JR OIL O NF TR-K O KLPR...T...R...FSF MRKL" Transliteration (with vowels added-in): "VERTAGOI NAS NEPHOS OILA VERSU JUR OILA O NEPH TUR-KA O KALPR...T...RE PHSUEPHE MURKUL" Translation: "Brave Versu, dear brother of a VERTAGOI take a sip, Oh dear (son of) Tur-Ka, Oh KALRP...T...RE raised by Phsuephi" Maenemoi From the poet/statesman Halanu in 1345 BCE: "Ἀλκυὶ μαῖτεσι νεισοὺς ἄλμενε ἀρχὰς αλμαῖσι Παῖνης τεμν ἔτε ρεγύτι μαῖτελσυ ἐπὶ χώνδρο;" "I have tried, men of Alman, to drive away, to rid (ourselves), of these cruel plagues of Paenu yet cruelty has been locked deep away in our forgetful hearts." Category:language Category:Solentia